Fallen Heroes
by PrincessBellePrinceAdam
Summary: [Operation Overdrive] He saved her...but the others were gone.  Rock, slight Ryzonn


**Fallen Heroes**

He heard four of his teammates hit the ground in the warehouse with sickening thuds. The whole place was on fire and filled with smoke. He coughed a loud hacking cough, and his eyes watered. He couldn't see anything properly, and the leering monster took advantage of this, dealing him a heavy blow that sent him to the ground as well. The force made him lose his morph, and it was several long minutes before he could manage to get up.

"Oh God," Mack Hartford muttered as the bodies of his teammates swam into focus. None of them were moving…except… "OK. OK." Despite his body's protests, the red ranger scrambled to Rose's side. He'd seen her move slightly, or so he'd thought. She had lost her morph as well, Mack noticed as he pushed the sleeve of her uniform jacket up and pressed his fingers to her wrist. A pulse beat, slow and steady. "It's going to be all right, Rosie. I promise you." He lifted his pink ranger into his arms and stumbled out of the burning building. "I'm sorry," he told the other three.

He made it to the Jeep, laying her down in the backseat. He moved hair out of her eyes for her and looked around for Tyzonn, who had already rescued the warehouse workers. The Mercury ranger came into view a moment later. "Where are the others?" he asked when he saw that Rose was lying on the backseat, clearly unconscious.

Mack's sorrow showed on his face very plainly. "I couldn't get them out, Ty. I got to Rose first because I saw her move. No one else made it."

"No. No. You have to be wrong. Ronny and Will and Dax…they can't be gone. They can't be."

"I saw it with my own eyes, Tyzonn."

Tyzonn looked absolutely livid with the red ranger. "Oh of course, Mack. As long as your little princess Rose is safe you don't care about anything else. Planning on telling her how you saved her and no one else on the team?"

Mack had never seen Tyzonn be so angry, much less heard such cruel words from him. "You can try and make me feel worse later. Rose needs to get back to the base so she can recover." He got in on the driver's side. He stared at the now destroyed building sadly for a moment before speeding away towards the manor.

--

Rose groaned softly as she stirred and woke slowly. She was in her bed in the Hartford manor and she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep again. Rose opened her eyes, and then a warm hand cupped her face. "Hey sleepy."

"How long have I been out Mack?"

"Almost two days. I've been worried."

She nodded and then sat up. "Am I going to be OK?"

"You're just fine," Mack answered slowly, but the look in his blue eyes told Rose that something was wrong here, very wrong. She thought for a moment.

"Is anyone else hurt?"

"Oh Rose…honey, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but we've lost half of our team." She gasped softly and tears stung at her eyes. Rose didn't bother to hide this.

"Who?"

"Will, Dax, and Ronny." Her tears leaked from her eyes and down her pretty face as Mack abandoned his chair and climbed onto her bed with her. He wrapped her in a bear hug, resting his head atop hers, finally letting his own tears fall into her dark hair. "I know it hurts, baby, I know."

--

It rained the day of the funeral. Rose sat between Mack and Tyzonn, who weren't speaking to each other. Tyzonn, Rose knew, was hurting for the yellow ranger. Mack was holding Rose's hand, knowing she needed to be comforted somehow. Rose wanted to bury her face in his chest and sob. She tried to look brave instead.

And then the three coffins were lowered into the freshly turned earth. Rose examined the crowd, easily picking out Ronny's parents, Will's mother and Dax's father. They all looked so devastated. She wondered how her own parents would feel if this had been her funeral.

"That was nice," Tyzonn murmured. Rose nodded, still not speaking, and turned to her red ranger, her hero. She did as she had ached to the whole funeral: she threw herself into his arms where it was safe, and she cried. She cried for her teammates, for her _friends_, and for the innocence she had lost. And still she knew, somehow, that she and Mack and Ty would find the other three jewels. They would defeat the evil in search of the crown and the world would be safe again.

When Rose finally looked up, feeling kind of silly for all the crying (so unlike her) she saw that Tyzonn was kneeling beside what was now Ronny's grave, one hand on the tombstone. His mouth was moving and he looked close to tears himself.

Something had been troubling Rose since she had woken to see Mack leaning over her, but now was not the right time to ask him, and she knew it. Right now, just being wrapped in his arms was enough. "We should give him a minute," Mack whispered to her, waving a hand towards Ty. She nodded. Taking one last glance at the three graves, Rose grabbed Mack's hand again and started to walk away.

--

She was sitting outside, looking at the stars, but the admiration her brown eyes usually held upon seeing the stars was not to be found. She looked exhausted and he found himself worrying. "Hey," he greeted softly, coming up behind her and rubbing her stiff shoulders.

"That feels nice," Rose sighed, relaxing. "But I have a question for you, Mack. Sit down so I can look at you." The red ranger did as he was told. Her eyes were wide and wondering. "Mack…why me? Why did you save me? It should have been Will or Dax because they were your best friends, or Ronny because…" she didn't want to finish her sentence, but Mack was staring at her, so she did, "Because you loved her."

It was so absurd that he wanted to laugh. "I loved Ronny like a sister. I was never _in_ love with her." His hand found hers again. "Rose, you moved when everyone else was stone still. I knew you had some chance at surviving…and all I could think was 'Not Rose, please not Rose."

"Thank you," she murmured, squeezing his hand gently. "I just wish we still had our team."

"We'll make them pay for killing our friends, Rose. We'll make them pay and Ronny, Will and Dax will be proud. We'll make the world safe again."

She knew he was right, and so she squeezed his hand again and looked back to the stars.


End file.
